Saturday, June 16, 2007

Best First Lines of Novels

Fort Stewart has been selecting his favorite first lines from a list of 100 that has been published. Likewise has Claw of the Conciliator.

However, I noticed that the list doesn't include one of my very favorite first lines which is from The Haunting of Hill House I include the entire first paragraph because I believe it is also one of the best ever. (And, yes, I will be including Ms. Jackson's work, both the disturbing and the humorous, in my podcast in the future.)
No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence laid steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

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